Pomegranate Glazed Chicken

Many months ago, POMwonderful contacted me about sending me 8 bottles of their original POMwonderful juice, I was absolutely flabbergasted that someone from POM would find my blog and ask if they could send me some of their product.

Of course I jumped at the chance to use some of their product. Right when it arrived I made some pomegranate molasses with the intent of doing all sorts of fun things. Then some classes got canceled so project due dates got moved closer together and cooking (beyond Top Ramen) came to a stop. Then Thanksgiving, my birthday, Finals, Christmas candy making, Christmas itself, and finally a mad dash down to San Diego for 29 hours for New Years Eve. I had a busy 6 weeks.

Finally I’ve had enough time to make something with my pomegranate molasses. I had originally planned on making this chicken dish from Deborah over at Taste and Tell, since I hadn’t received the pomegranate juice yet I just ear marked it without reading it. When I read through the recipe completely I realized it wasn’t just pomegranate molasses painted on while the chicken was baking – the juice was cooked with orange juice, rosemary, and garlic to make the molasses.

So, I decided to use Deborah’s recipe as jumping point and dove in. I mixed the orange juice, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper to form a wet rub, then I rubbed it over the boneless, skinless chicken breasts. After 10 minutes in the oven at 425 degrees F, I started painting on the molasses with a silicon paint brush. I then painted it every 5 minutes until the center of the thickest part of the breast reached 165 degrees F.

The orange juice provided a wonderful sweet balance to the tartness of the pomegranate molasses. The rosemary added a nice earthy, savory flavor that toned down the fruity aspect of the dish. This is going to go on a regular rotation at my house. It was one of the best chicken dishes I’ve ever had.

If you aren’t fond of a lot of tartness in a dish, paint more molasses on the chicken every 10 minutes instead of every 5 minutes.

Place chicken on the cooling rack, and cook in the oven for 10 minutes. Using a clean pastry brush or silicon brush paint on pomegranate molasses. Continue painting on the molasses every 5 minutes or every 10 minutes for a less pomegranate flavor.